Rory spent the entire afternoon going through one album after another. It wasn't really like her to go through someone else's things like that, and other than the photo albums, she didn't, leaving all the notebooks and documents untouched. But then again it didn't feel like a major invasion or privacy either - after all the place was beginning to feel a bit like home, and she'd met most of the people on those photos. While she had perhaps expected to see just what Logan had described to her - him and his sister with nannies, the reality was a little surprising. It seemed that the person who most surprised her in these pictures was Mitchum. Mitchum cooking, fishing, playing with a frisbee, reading, swimming and just hanging out at the house. She'd never really pictured Mitchum having free time like that. But she figured, there was a lot she didn't know about the man. Most of the photos were of the kids though, playing alone, together or with some other kids she did not recognize. There was even one of Mitchum and Logan, who was roughly 4 years old in the photo, riding a motor boat. The two didn't look like the dysfunctional family, they now were, in those pictures. She couldn't really claim that the pictures weren't just a pretence or some odd event, but they certainly looked happy. She continued to browse, reaching a handful of photos not mounted in the album, suddenly recognizing another familiar face - Catherine. Catherine stood in one of the pictures facing the ocean, deep in thought. She looked beautiful, her long brown hair curled, wearing a striped shirt-waist dress. She looked happy. Rory moved on, soon finding herself chuckling at a series of photos of Logan and Honor making faces at the camera. She liked those photos, leaving the handful out on the desk, hoping to show Logan someday. Somehow this made her think about the very definitions of a happy childhood. This discussion was central also to her own book. While she had grown up in a completely different setting from theirs, based on those photos and what she knew at least. It was impossible to tell whether one had been happier than the other. She wondered what had happened to the Mitchum with a genuine smile on his face who was boating with his son, to turn him into the smug and arrogant man she'd met and from that to the bitter man Logan often described these days.

Rory's phone rang, jolting her out from her thoughts.

"Hey!" she answered, happy to hear from him.

"Hey, Ace," he greeted, having gotten home from work, just removing his tie. Their calls had become a routine of sorts, his way to unwind and for her a way to touch base with the outside world on an almost daily basis.

"I got your gift, it was beautiful. Thank you. But you know…," she began.

"I know I didn't have to, it's like you forget I know you sometimes. But I really wanted to," he finished her thought, with his own two cents. He'd spent the past couple of days making wedding preparations with Odette, and each time they'd been asked to choose something they'd tried to pick things they barely liked, briefly even getting carried away a bit and getting sceptical glimpses from Shira. But on the side, he just felt he wanted to offer some of the things he did see he liked to Rory instead. It felt like the very least he could do from the distance.

"Anything new over there?" she asked, changing the subject. She felt like very little action happened in her current life - her weekly highlight being the trip to Portland, what she read or wrote and her calls with him.

"Just booked our tickets to Martha's Vineyard. We're coming on the 21st," he shared.

"Okay, I was planning on driving over on the 22nd. I agreed to lunch with dad in Boston, so I'll be there in the evening I guess. Do you think I could just take the ferry as a passenger, the car places are pricey and likely already fully booked? Can someone come and pick me up?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll pick you up, let me know the time," he added. "How long can you stay?" Logan asked. He ached to be around Rory in person again.

"How long is it okay for me to stay?" she asked hesitantly, unsure if she could even consider staying the night.

That question felt like a blunt knife to the stomach. Something so simple, seemingly innocent, yet to Logan this showed how insecure Rory really was about the situation. It took him a few seconds to find the right words.

"Rory, as far as I'm concerned, you can stay as long as you like. I talked to Honor, she knows, she knows everything. There's plenty of room," he sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose. He realized that they wouldn't be able to just do whatever they wanted to do over there - publicly they couldn't be more than friends. There were too many people the Huntzbergers knew around for anything else. And keeping her hidden in the house, just felt plain wrong. "I'm so sorry Rory, I hate this. I hate putting you in this position," he added on a broken voice, experiencing a moment of weakness. He really missed her.

"Logan, hey..," she soothed. She could sense he was upset, wanting desperately to hold him.

"It's okay, I wanted to come, remember, I want to see you too. Emily will expect me on the 24th at the latest anyways," she added optimistically, realizing it was the way she'd asked that had made him this upset.

"Oh, finally, you've cleared this place up a bit. Do you mind if I come clean in here?" Catherine asked Rory from the doorway to the study.

"Of course. I'll just go take a shower in the meanwhile," she added, closing the lid of her laptop, before leaving the room.

She returned fifteen minutes later drying her hair off with a towel. Catherine was still in the room, lightly dusting the surfaces when she stopped at the desk, picking up the handful of photos Rory had left there.

"Where did you find these?" Catherine asked.

"They sort of fell out. I liked how happy the kids looked," she explained, feeling for a moment like having done something she wasn't supposed to. "There's one where you look beautiful as well," she added, taking the photos from her hands and searching for the one she meant.

"I never really asked you how you knew them," Catherine said, referring to the kids in the photos.

"I met them both at Yale," she replied hesitantly, unsure how much information she should share about Logan.

Catherine could read the hesitation in her voice. "Let me guess, it's because of Logan you are staying here, am I right?" Catherine asked, adding "Don't worry, it's not like I have anyone to tell."

"We have a long history, yes," she replied.

"He's a decent guy, as far as I know. Haven't seen much of him in recent years," she commented.

"He always described his childhood in quite negative tones, I'd never thought I'd find a picture of him looking this happy, and the same with Mitchum," Rory said, holding out the picture with the two of them.

"They were, back then," she sighed. "Do you mind if I take this?" she asked about the photo of her, before continuing her work,